Hoover Dial a Matic U6003 bad power drive

[Herky]

I'm a new member. Who would have guessed there was a forum for vacuum cleaners? The internet is an amazing thing. Anyway, my trusty Dial A Matic that I bought in 1978 finally gave up the ghost, at least the power drive did. It was making a lot of rattling noise when I turned it off, as it was winding down. Finally the input shaft to the drive unit froze and started burning the belt. So, I want to know if the drive is repairable (disassemble & replace bad parts), remove and replace as a unit, or call it curtains for the vac? What say you all? Thanks in advance.

 

[suckolux]

welcome! Many Hooverphiles will jump in with help/ advise.

 

[smow69]

repair

i say repair it its a great machine well worth the money to fix...

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I

agree.

 

[Herky]

Thank you for the replies. Maybe I didn't phrase my question properly. I would love to repair it. I need to know if the drive itself can be disassembled and repaired, or if it's a remove and replace process. New drive units seem run $125 or so online. I have not found any repair parts for the drive, nor have I attempted to take it apart yet. I suppose that's cheaper than replacing the machine though.
Thanks again.

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Early on, Hoover would service the power drive transmissions if/when they had problems - but it became too much effort (too many tiny parts, and a real time-suck), and eventually they stopped doing that, likely from a cost perspective on how much time it took service techs to perform those fixes. Hoover then just replaced the entire power drive assembly if it became problematic. $125 or so seems about right for a new transmission. Your alternate option would be to find a donor machine, which would give you other spare parts then as well. There are lots of Power Drive Dial A Matics out there, but hunting down a donor machine may not be as fast as ordering a new transmission.

There is a complete service manual posted on www.automatice.org for the Dial A Matic, and those instructions do inlude how to take the power drive assembly apart. That would be a good resource for you to have, if you want to attempt fixing it before shelling out $125 for a new transmission. I've never tried taking a power drive unit apart personally, so I can't speak to its level of difficulty. Link to thise service manual is below.

Hope that helps!

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~989~Hoover~

 

[Herky]

That's what I was looking for. Thanks. I'll provide an update after I get the manual and take things apart. I found Dial a Matic on e-bay for ten bucks, but it was not local for me, so not really a player since shipping would be costly. Maybe Goodwill has a donor.

 

[Herky]

Well, I took the plunge and took the transmission apart, figured I had nothing to lose. It wasn't too bad, no oil inside, just thick grease, so nothing leaking out. If the bearing had come out easily I would not have had to take the tranny apart, but it was so tight I had to pull it out with a screw & nut, thus had to dismantle it. The ball bearing at the input end of the shaft had failed, probably due to the constant tension of the drive belt. I found a replacement at a local small appliance repair shop. I replaced both bearing as long as I had it apart. Turns out the bearing is the same as the one used in the roller brush thing. However, parts are not generally available for this machine, so I lucked out. It works like a champ now. Here's to another 30 years.

 

[suckolux]

Great news! Nice work.